The Sound of Snow
Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow…” Is: 1:18
Our weather man here in Alabama's Capital has a nickname. We all call him Chicken Little. He gets so excited about weather events that my dad phones me to let me know that the sky is falling…again. He gets a charge out of the guy. The local news brought on the SNOW frenzy for Sunday, the first day of March. Annie and I looked at each other and nonverbally communicated: “Yea, right….” After 30 years of marriage you can communicate this way. I hope she can’t read my mind too much however.
Like a kid, I still got up with the chickens at 5 AM Sunday morning to see if the snow had started. To my surprise, the fat flakes were coming down like parachutes over Normandy. Belle has seen snow on rare occasions in her 12 years and made an obligatory snap at a few falling flakes. Millie on the other hand,
tore donuts in the backyard and snapped like a cornered turtle at the flakes as they fell.“Get up, it’s snowing!” I exclaimed to Annie and her best buddy Blue, the cat.
"Make some coffee and I might….” she replied sleepily.
I then opened Stephen’s door, kicking baseball cleats and sweats out of the way and told him if he wanted to see some snow, he'd better get up.
The dogs and I returned to the backyard to play. I threw the Flippy-Flopper a few times and noticed Annie and Stephen standing at the French d
oors watching us frolic, smiling. Another one of those moments to cherish.
For any of you Yankees, by this of the year, you are sick of snow. Your prayer is for God to remove this dreadful stuff from the streets and sidewalks. But for your average southerner, it is high cotton. Of course, the first thing we men-folk do is ‘start our engines’ and see if we can spin our tires. My dad, the Pittsburgh-yankee-convert-to-Alabama-redneck knows not to get on the road in Alabama during snow events. I ignored this well founded warning and threw caution to the wind. I took to the highway in
my trusty steed and just enjoyed the ride.
There is one thing I have noticed about snow when it is falling. It has a sound yet you don’t ‘hear’ it. The delicate descent pierces the ear with sound of purity. Have you ever gone off by yourself and ‘listened’ to the snow? It jars you with peace, surrounds you with a deep sigh, it sounds…. beautiful… resplendent.
Many believers have heard the scripture above since childhood. “White as snow” is synonymous, now a common and colloquial saying that serves as a figurative substitute for purity. I ‘hear’ it now as much as I see it and feel it. The peaceful
sound of forgiveness, of knowing that our Father sees us not with the shame of a scarlet letter, but as a happy, peaceful, early March day filled with the whispers of snow. His presence touches all of our senses...
I then opened Stephen’s door, kicking baseball cleats and sweats out of the way and told him if he wanted to see some snow, he'd better get up.
The dogs and I returned to the backyard to play. I threw the Flippy-Flopper a few times and noticed Annie and Stephen standing at the French d
oors watching us frolic, smiling. Another one of those moments to cherish.For any of you Yankees, by this of the year, you are sick of snow. Your prayer is for God to remove this dreadful stuff from the streets and sidewalks. But for your average southerner, it is high cotton. Of course, the first thing we men-folk do is ‘start our engines’ and see if we can spin our tires. My dad, the Pittsburgh-yankee-convert-to-Alabama-redneck knows not to get on the road in Alabama during snow events. I ignored this well founded warning and threw caution to the wind. I took to the highway in
my trusty steed and just enjoyed the ride.There is one thing I have noticed about snow when it is falling. It has a sound yet you don’t ‘hear’ it. The delicate descent pierces the ear with sound of purity. Have you ever gone off by yourself and ‘listened’ to the snow? It jars you with peace, surrounds you with a deep sigh, it sounds…. beautiful… resplendent.
Many believers have heard the scripture above since childhood. “White as snow” is synonymous, now a common and colloquial saying that serves as a figurative substitute for purity. I ‘hear’ it now as much as I see it and feel it. The peaceful
sound of forgiveness, of knowing that our Father sees us not with the shame of a scarlet letter, but as a happy, peaceful, early March day filled with the whispers of snow. His presence touches all of our senses...Mark
(Tomorrow the forecast is for sunny skies and 70 degrees.)
posted by Mark @ 7:57 PM
<< Home